Secrets
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: Just a quick story dashed off.  Hope you like it!


Secrets.

* * *

_Note: The inspiration for this story came from the short story "Dummyblind" in the 1971 Analog magazine of science fiction and science fact._

Kim frowned as the guards left her alone. She and Ron had been warned of a plot on the part of Dr. Drakkan to take over the world, and they'd gone into Russia to locate it…but the Russian government had evidently been subverted by Drakken and there'd been troops in the way of the strange fortress that he'd built in an uncharted part of Siberia. Now, she and Ron sat in a large room, with a single light, in a pair of strongly built chairs. In front of them was a table with their mission gear.

"The chairs are nice, though." Ron pointed out, "They're very well fitted."

The door then opened.

"Hello, Kim Possible." A large, man with close cropped gray hair said, as he introduced himself. "You do not know me…but I know you, very well."

"OH?" Kim said, "I don't think so—I haven't seen you before!"

"No…_you,._ haven't seen me before. He looked at her grapple gun. "Such an obsolete piece of technology… I wonder why they let you use it after all this time."

"All this time?" Kim said, "So not the drama." That got a laugh. Ron looked nervous.

"What?" He asked. "Mad scientists don't usually laugh at that."

"My friend… I am not a mad scientist." He said, "And as far as I know, the breed doesn't exist. I am with the Colonial Legal Authority, and I was laughing at the slang. It's old."

"Oh?" Ron said, "That doesn't sound Russian."

"It isn't."

"And it isn't with Global Justice." Kim said, "So who is it? Drakken…Dementor?"

"No. Neither one of those individuals ever existed." He paused. The two teens blinked. He continued. "Tell me… you were both preparing to go to college after this mission, right? You had just graduated from Middleton High, and in fact, at the prom you pledged yourselves to each other… in more ways than one."

"You were spying on us!" Kim said, reddening. She'd lost her virginity that night. Surprisingly, he didn't laugh… in fact, he looked faintly sad.

"No. I have no need to spy on you… I have other sources." He paused. "Your previous missions….very dangerous… I am surprised you survived."

"Well, that's us… KP and RS, the unstoppable duo!" Ron said.

"No. The very stoppable Duo…"

"Not according to our record!" Kim said angrily. This guy wasn't playing according to the rules. She felt a looseness in one strap and started working at it. If she could get loose, they could get out of here and contact Wade. This was real freaky.

"Tell me." He said, "Have you ever read about the way memory is transmitted." Kim blinked.

"A little."

"And how it is implanted?" Kim listened to him with half her mind while she continued working on her bonds…just a little more….

"Kinda…" Kim said, just one more-

"Well, then this should be-" Kim broke loose and before the man could do anything, she undid the rest of her bonds and leapt from the chair, grabbing the laser cutter he had in front of him.

"Let Ron go!" She said. He nodded…unsurprised strangely enough. Soon, Ron was free and he and Kim were donning their mission gear.

"You won't get away…but the gear is very important." He said.

"Quiet." Kim said. "What's your name?"

"Sergai Romanov." He answered. "At your service… as I have been numerous times."

"What?"

"As I said, about memory… in 2030 we learned how to implant it. That was long ago, of course. Cloning came soon after."

"What? Are you crazy?" Kim said, "It's 2006."

"No. It is not." Sergai gestured towards the door. "If you will come with me?" Kim looked at Ron, and the two teens let Sergai walk ahead of them, while they stayed alert for booby traps. Outside of the building, they found themselves in a wooded valley with a number of small homes nestled under the trees. Sergai looked at them.

"This is something of a jail…or a refuge, depending. It is _very_ far away from where you came, and high technology is forbidden… if you will look at the sky." Kim didn't get taken in, but Ron's gasp caused her to involuntarily look up.

There were two suns in the sky—one like Earth's sun, and a smaller, blue one.

"Where…where are we?"

"About 600 light years from Earth." Sergai said. "On a low tech penal planet."

"But…but we're the good guys." He shook his head sadly.

"No. The memories you were given were of a person…a world that never existed. There was never a Doctor Drakken, or a Dementor…or a Wade. Just memories calculated to make you obedient to whatever purchaser you were activated by…and better able to deal with high technology." He paused, "And of course, you seldom survived long enough to notice the difference.. I am afraid, Ms. Possible… that better than two thirds of your missions end in failure…and of those that succeed, early termination is often your only reward.

Kim was reeling.

"You're lying…why are you lying?" Ron was blinking, looking at the unfamiliar territory.

"Maybe it's a plot to drive us crazy?" He asked.

"That does happen to some." Sergai said.

"Shut up!" Kim said, her voice sounding weak and uncertain even to her. Now people were leaving the houses and walking up to them.

"Who are they!" Kim said angrily.

"Your fellow inmates… they help out with new arrivals." Sergai paused. "There are other settlements beyond the valley… Different people, but these are familiar faces."

"What?" Kim snarled, tempted to use the laser cutter on him. Ron gasped beside her and she took her eyes off Sergai and looked down. In the lead there was a man who looked like Ron…only about 20 years older with gray in his hair. Next to him a red head who could have been a dead ringer for her mom, a child on the hip and expecting another… then behind them another red head and someone that looked like a twin to Ron.

"What….what…" Kim said.

"It's ok, Kim." The oldest redhead said, in her voice. _In My voice._ "It's a shock to all of us. You can relax. We're friends." Behind her, other men and women were walking up.

"More than that." Sergai said. He paused. "This is perhaps the best way to show you." He paused and in a voice that reminded Kim and Ron of Mr. Barkin, calmly said. "I would like everyone answering to the following name to raise their hands: Kim Possible." Kim looked out….as every red head raised her hand in unison.

End.


End file.
